Take One for the Team
by PrincessofDucttapeland
Summary: Daniel does some manipulating to try and repair the team. Not totally sure where this story came from...


A/N: Set after "A Hundred Days" I think. It's been a while since I saw it. I wrote this around 4AM, so I'm not even entirely sure where this came from…

"Teal'c, buddy, can you do me a favor?" Daniel asked. He had seen Jack enter the commissary, spot Sam in line for lunch (it wasn't hard, the place was mostly empty), and start to walk over to her.

"How can I be of assistance, DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked, looking up from his mac and cheese.

Daniel stood, pushing his chair in, leaving his own lunch half-eaten. "Stay here, believe that I know what I'm doing, and know that there's a good chance that Jack will punch me in the next couple minutes."

Teal'c started to follow Daniel, confused and concerned, but Daniel put a hand up and said, "Just… trust me. I may have to just take one for the team."

Teal'c sat back down and watched Daniel dodge in between tables to catch up with O'Neill.

"Jack!" Daniel said, reaching out to tap his friend's shoulder. The colonel looked at his friend, looked back at Sam, who was heading with her tray to sit with Teal'c, and back again at Daniel.

"Yes, Daniel?" O'Neill said while looking impatiently back at the table his friends occupied.

"Leave her alone," Daniel said, crossing his arms over his chest and angling himself between Jack and the rest of SG-1.

O'Neill stared at Daniel's determined face for a moment, and then simply said, "What?"

"I said, 'leave her alone.'" Daniel repeated. "She just went through three months of hell to get you back here, and she has a right to be mad at you. It'd be best if you just left Sam be for a while longer."

"Daniel," O'Neill said, trying to step past him, "I know what she did. We're fine."

"No, Jack, you don't know," Daniel said, once again physically placing himself between Jack and the table at which Sam was now eating her lunch, oblivious to the apparent drama in which the rest of her team was involved.

"Daniel, what is going on with you?" O'Neill asked, looking down at his friend, wondering what had brought out this focused, determined, almost aggressive side of his friend, a side usually reserved for staring down interplanetary perpetrators of great injustices.

"While you were settling in to a new life, giving up hope on the SGC, on how hard we would try to get you back, giving up on Sam," Daniel looked Jack directly in the eye as he said their teammate's name, "We were all spending every second we could trying to get you back. Now, I know you felt abandoned, and I understand that you probably felt like you had no choice, but think about all that time from our point of view."

"I know," Jack said, not really knowing where this was going or why Daniel was all up in arms. He made to walk around Daniel again, but this time, Daniel actually reached over and stopped Jack where he stood with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"No, you don't know," Daniel repeated. "While you were gone, who do you think she turned to? Who do you think was here to keep Sam in one piece? Hmm?"

Daniel watched as what he was saying finally hit home. Jack looked at his friend, then glanced past him to the blonde who was illustrating some (probably scientific) point by waving her fork around in the air as she spoke.

"What are you saying, Daniel?" Jack asked.

"I'm saying you're not the one she needs anymore," Daniel said, staring his friend down. "And I'd like it if you backed off for a while until she's used to you being here again, and accepts the fact that you completely lost faith in her to get you back."

"I didn't," O'Neill said, a look of concern on his face.

"Mmm, I kinda think you did," Daniel said. "Either way, things have changed. She spent three months relying on me, and honestly, I don't see why that has to change now that you're back."

Jack didn't even hesitate before shoving Daniel into the empty table behind him, knocking down a few chairs and landing his friend on his butt in the middle of the commissary. The colonel stormed out through the doors he had just entered through, not even noticing that the mostly-empty room was silent and staring at him as he left in a rage.

Teal'c and Carter raced over to help Daniel to his feet.

"What just happened?" Sam asked, a look of concern aimed not towards Daniel who was brushing himself off, but towards the doorway.

"Oh, slight disagreement, and all that," Daniel said, reaching over to help Teal'c straighten the table and chairs he had just knocked over. "I told Jack that I totally forgot to feed his fish while he was gone, and he was very upset to hear that."

"ColonelO'Neill does not own a fish," Teal'c said.

"Not any more, no," Daniel replied, deadpan. "Well, I'm off to translate stuff."

Sam and Teal'c watched as Daniel returned to his abandoned lunch, disposed of his tray, and walked out the doors to his office like he hadn't a care in the world.

"Teal'c, what was that about?" Sam asked, looking at her teammate.

"I am not sure, MajorCarter, but I will find out," the Jaffa said, and nodded to her as he followed Daniel to his office.

"Hey, Teal'c!" Daniel said, pulling off his jacket to check for bruises on his arms where he had fallen into the table.

"DanielJackson, would you please explain to me what you and ColonelO'Neil were discussing that lead to him shoving you into a table?"

"Hey, he didn't punch me, that went better than I expected," Daniel said, wincing as he carefully moved his possibly sprained wrist.

Teal'c gave half an eyebrow raise.

"I may have told him that Sam and I sort of started getting… closer while he was gone," Daniel said, smirking.

"But this is untrue, and obviously upsetting to ColonelO'Neill," Teal'c said.

"Yes," Daniel said. "But it'll get him to say to Sam that he never gave up hope on her; and better than that, to actually act like it."

Teal'c smiled a tiny smile, finally understanding his friend's seemingly irrational choices.

"And to repair what has happened between MajorCarter and ColonelO'Neill, you were willing to risk physical harm?"

Daniel nodded.

"Then they are lucky to have you as their friend, DanielJackson."

"And we're just as lucky to have them," Daniel said. "Now, I'm going to go see Janet, I'm actually worried I broke my wrist when I fell on it."


End file.
